The Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story

2014
4.7| 1h28m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 01 September 2014 Released
Producted By: Lifetime
Country: Canada
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

The Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story delves into the experiences of six unknown young actors placed into the Hollywood spotlight, exposing the challenges of growing up under public scrutiny.

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Reviews

GarnettTeenage The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.
AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
jeffvw-05852 Best movie ever. I can't beleive it didn't get a theatrical release. My wife made me watch it once and now we watch it first thing every Saturday morning mostly because our local tv stations just stopped showing saved by the Bell reruns on Saturday mornings last month. It's definitely the next best thing. And the only movie I have watched in the last 14 years.
Michael_Elliott The Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story (2014) ** 1/2 (out of 4)This "unauthorized" telling of the events from the hit television show Saved By the Bell is based on the book that was written by Dustin Diamond (Screech) and centers on his unhappy time filming the show.THE UNAUTHORIZED SAVED BY THE BELL STORY is a rather strange film on a number of levels. If you grew up watching the show like I did then you know it was rather corny and campy and those two words are how I'd describe this television movie. I say that because the movie really doesn't get into the darker elements of the story and it's rather silly when you think that some of the real-life people were upset about the movie. In all honesty, this is a pretty tame look at the events that were going on behind-the-scenes.With that being said, since the movie was made Diamond has came out and said that a lot of the book was made up so perhaps that's why certain elements didn't make it into the film. For the most part this was a decent made-for-television film that will have some appeal to fans of the show. We learn that Diamond was basically unhappy while making the show because he wasn't treated the same way as other cast members and his "dork" character wasn't able to get ladies. What this movie is basically saying is that pretty people have it easier than ugly ones.As far as the casting goes, the producers went to great trouble to make sure their young cast looked like the people they were playing. Performances were okay but certainly nothing special. I doubt the producers were looking for Oscar-winning performances but instead people who could at least make the viewers feel you were watching the real characters. The story isn't the strongest thing that I've seen but then again this is a TV movie for Lifetime.On the whole, there's really nothing special or great about this film but it should appeal to fans who want to relive some of the campy moments from the show.
insomniac_rod I am aware it is Dustin's version; however, it misses the point on describing the real problems and frictions between the cast. They barely display the character's personalities, hobbies, and their life outside the set, which would be helpful to understand some issues. Instead, the script focuses on describing things we already knew. I know, it is Dustin's story, but a little more objectivity wouldn't hurt. The acting is surprisingly good, specially the young man that plays Dustin. The rest of the cast does perfectly their job although it seems they haven't seen the original Saved by the Bell series. I would definitely recommend this one for fans of the series, like myself. I grew watching this series and became part of my life, so, getting extra information after 22 years was a good nostalgic touch, although I expected to see more of the "private" details.
kandit1 This unauthorized version is told from Dustin Diamond's recollection of events. Since this story is about a group of six teenagers and what went on behind the scenes of the TV show, one man's recollection of events certainly skews history and hence the unauthorized title.To be fair, Dustin's version of events in the movie version doesn't really target anyone negatively other than the fact that, as the youngest cast member, he felt as though he was an outsider. This lead to awkward and uncomfortable situations with other cast members but we get the impression that on the whole the cast were good friends off the set as well.Given time limits, many things were skipped which I would have liked to see as someone who followed the show during it's original run. 'Good Morning, Miss Bliss' had Hayley Mills, T.K. Carter and Joan Ryan as teachers along with Heather Hopper and Max Battimo as students. All these actors were not covered in the movie nor why they were excluded when 'Saved By The Bell' carried on with Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Dustin Diamond, Lark Voorhies and Dennis Haskins all continuing their roles.Diamond's version for cancellation of 'Saved By The Bell: The College Years' differs substantially from mine. I remember wanting to watch it to continue watching these characters and their exploits taken to a new level in college but the show was so atrociously bad that even I didn't watch it to the end of it's run. Despite Diamond's view that this was the end, it was not. He forgot to mention the 1994 TV movie 'Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas' as well as Dustin Diamond reuniting with Dennis Haskins in 'Saved by the Bell: The New Class' which had more seasons and episodes than the original.On the whole, this movie portrays Diamond as pretty clean-cut and a victim of blackmail from a guy that introduced him to alcohol and drugs but what would you expect from a story being told only from his viewpoint? It would be nice one day if we got another version or even had someone collectively put together all the major actor's recollections and make a more thorough and balanced review of events on film.